Walter Wisniewski and Allison Vanaski - The Millionaire Within

There's no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love. There is only a scarcity of resolve to make it happen.

Wayne Dyer

My daughter Allie and I decided to write this book together because we wanted to share our mutual experiences in helping our clients and other investors change their perceptions about money. Most people consult financial publications hoping to gain insights into new financial strategies or to find promising investments for the upcoming year. In essence, they erroneously seek answers by attempting to choose the best stocks, timing the markets, or discovering the next hot sector.

If anyone a financial advisor, stock analyst, economist or crystal ball gazer actually had a method of accurately predicting what the markets were going to do next week or next year, why would they spend their time writing a book or advising others? Why wouldnt they simply apply that knowledge and become a millionaire themselves?

However, Allie and I know that people tend to succeed or fail with their finances based on their perceptions, behaviors and biases about money, not because they choose the right stocks at the right time! The sooner investors have this epiphany, the sooner they will make better informed financial decisions. A marvelous byproduct of this Aha moment is that they will come to enjoy what they already have and worry less about what they dont have. It is quite a transformational experience which Allie and I have seen occur countless times with our clients.

Walters Experience

As a teenager I absorbed a great deal about life and money just by watching and listening to my parents. My father toiled as an airplane mechanic in the 1950s, working alongside hazardous materials, making very little money in order to provide for his family. Receiving a nickel-an-hour raise was cause for celebration in our home!

My mother had an equally difficult and frustrating life, laboring as a seamstress in a sewing factory sweatshop until eleven oclock each night. After years of struggle and saving, they accumulated enough money to buy a small general store in our blue collar neighborhood on Long Island. My father borrowed money from friends and relatives for the meager down payment to finance this business venture.

Both my parents worked from seven in the morning until eleven each night...the first self-proclaimed 7-11 in America! In my early teens, while working daily in the store, I acquired a sound work ethic, accompanied by traits that would serve me well later in life. Working in the delicatessen and engaging with hard-working families taught me so much about the value people placed on the money they spent and what they expected in return.

Our family operated store was based on trust; no one took a salary. If we needed money, we took what was absolutely necessary from the cash register. Money was constantly an issue that concerned my parents, because there never seemed to be enough. However, even amid their financial insecurity my parents exhibited enormous generosity toward our neighborhood customers, many of whom were suffering financial hardships. My parents frequently extended credit to them, which most of the time was never repaid. These sincere acts of kindness caused additional stress to our family.